Can you guess what time it is again?! IT'S CUPCAKE HERO TIME!! Okay now I know you're thinking this girl needs to cut back on the sugar / coffee / Red Bull, and maybe I do...but with Halloween coming up we all know how likely that's gonna be (mwahaha). Returning to the ever-important topic of cupcakes, I've been plotting a while now for October's challenge (partly to distract myself while waiting for the results of September's throwdown including one of my entries).

The theme this month, Booo-tiful Pumpkin Cupcakes, had both flavor and decorative components. We were told to use pumpkin in some part of the cupcake plus to make the top "Halloween-y." Aye aye, Captain CB! Our awesome hostess was even so kind as to point us to this goldmine of ideas. I went in search of a cool-lookin' design that wouldn't require anything too fussy (like fondant or food coloring) and found these fun chocolate M&M insect and mummy toppings. All the instructions on how to make these yourself are below and know that I love questions =).Let's not be shallow though and forget what's on the inside (I'll be here all night, folks 8p): unbelievably moist pumpkin cake with a hint of spice, punctuated by chocolate candy bits. I de-veganized the original recipe by cookbook goddesses Isa and Terry (which they'll hopefully forgive), but that can be easily reversed using vegan versions of the candies, cream cheese, etc.

Vegan or not, the recipes in their cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (VCTOTW) are some of the best in existence. There are so many unique flavors, like green tea, Boston cream pie, rum raisin, and margarita cupcakes. This book would rock anyone's socks off, so I want to give a free copy to one of you! To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment by next Friday, October 16, telling me your favorite thing about Halloween. Please make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win.

XIAOLU'S NOTES: I had work in the afternoon, so I baked the cupcakes midday and refrigerated them until I had time to prepare the rest at night. This worked out great so don't be intimated if you can't do all this at once!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a standard muffin pan with paper liners. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt together into a small bowl. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir the pumpkin, oil, sugar, milk, and vanilla together until thoroughly mixed. Add in the dry ingredients and stir into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in the chopped M&M candies.

Fill paper liners about 2/3 full with batter. Tap the pan firmly against the counter one time to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove them to a wire rack and let them cool completely there.

To assemble insect cupcakes: spread an even layer of cream cheese frosting onto the cupcakes using a knife or spatula. Gently peel the chocolate candy insects from the parchment paper, place one or more on each cupcake, and press slightly to secure. That's it!

To assemble mummy cupcakes: if you have melted chocolate leftover from making the insects and eyes, squeeze 1-2 teaspoons on the top center of each cupcake then spread and and smooth it out with a spatula. Place a pair of M&M eyes on top of the chocolate (or directly on the cupcake). Next, fit a piping bag with an Ateco #48 tip (or other rectangular basketweave tip) and fill it with cream cheese frosting. Make the "bandages" by piping flat strips of frosting at different angles across each cupcake, leaving only a strip right around the eyes.

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and butter until soft and smooth. On low speed beat in the vanilla, salt, and sugar. Start with 1 1/2 cups of sugar and add more to achieve desired sweetness and stiffness. Finally, beat on high speed for a few moments until smooth.

XIAOLU'S NOTE: I roughly followed the templates from Hello, Cupcake! If you'd like to try them, just leave a comment with your email and I'll send it right over.

Using a fairly thick and dark pen or marker, draw outlines of insects or whatever creepy design you want on light-colored paper. Separate your candies by color.

Gotta confess, the OCD part of me kinda relished this part.

Place chocolate chips in a plastic zipper-lock bag and microwave at 10-second intervals, massaging the bag in between, until the chocolate is fully melted. Press as much air as possible out of the bag then close the top.

Lay a piece of parchment or wax paper over the outlines you made earlier. Use scissors to cut off a 1/16-inch corner of the plastic bag and pipe the chocolate onto the parchment paper along the outlines underneath, making sure to connect all the parts to each insect. Before the chocolate hardens, place the M&M candies on top.

If making mummy cupcakes, spread out pairs (one for each cupcake) of mini or regular M&M candies in matching bright colors. Use the same bag of melted chocolate to pipe dots on the candies to make pupils.

Chill all piped chocolate in the refrigerator until firm, at least 5 minutes.

XIAOLU'S NOTE: If the chocolate starts to solidify as you're working with it, you can microwave it again at 10-second intervals until it softens again.

This is such a cute idea! First of all, I love pumpkin. Especially in baked goods. Second of all, I love how artistic the insects and mummies are without you have to use crazy cake-decorating ingredients, such as fondant. Plus you got to sort the M+M's. Which I also compulsively do while eating them. They taste better that way.

My favorite part of Halloween is the costumes, but only the creative ones. Last year, I was the food pyramid and made this whole costume out of oak tag (that heavy paper you can buy in drug stores). I got to get the creative juices flowing, which is always fun! Awesome giveaway.

My favorite thing about Halloween is the pumpkin craving. I remember, as a kid, the search for the perfect shape and size and the fun of deciding what design to come up with. I also remember saving the pumpkin seeds and roasting them with some salt for a snack.

I really miss Halloween from when I lived in Boston. It was so fun watching all the little kids dress up and collect candy. Maybe I will have to make some of these cupcakes to compensate? They are fantastic. I love how you have decorated them. Simple yet so effective! :)

Oh my goodness these are SO fun and SO cute and so so insanely awesome. I didn't realize from that first photo that you were using M&M's. I need to try playing around and decorating cupcakes like this. Ahhh. You're inspiring me to make cupcakes! But I don't know what I'd do with them because they're hard to transport... anyway. My favourite thing about Halloween - how can I choose?? It's my favourite holiday. I think my favourite thing is all the mystery and spooky stories. =) My email address is emdrecipes @ gmail.com

My favorite thing about Halloween is trick or treating with my Girls. We hit the Care Center first then ON To The Town! We go until the girls can go not more. I would like to note that I live In frontier territory On the MN, USA - Ontario,CA boarder so it is still quite safe to trick or treat here as you know everyone in town.

so am going to make these this weekend! I luv the bugs and eyes you made as well! My fav thing about halloween (our households fav holiday) is the combo of fall in general along with the supernatural aspect to it. Where else would you see colorful vibrant leaves and pumpkins along with spooky ghosts and witches!